I Was Reincarnated as a Mob in a Completed School Rom-Com Manga, and When I Tried My Best to Cheer Up the Broken Losing Heroines, I Realized I Had Surpassed the Original Story - 30

Chapter 30: Cultural Festival (Hiyori Konno)

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“Welcome, Kazuto-kun, Moe-chan.”

Moe and I entered the cosplay café run by Nazuna’s class, and we were left speechless. The reason was that Nazuna Akaboshi—one of the most beautiful girls in our entire school—was greeting us while wearing a nurse outfit. I wasn’t bragging, but even with my self-proclaimed deeper-than-average knowledge of nurses, the sight was the ultimate feast for the eyes. If a nurse like this actually existed, I wouldn’t mind being hospitalized again…That was honestly how far my thoughts went…

As I was staring at Nazuna in a trance, Moe—who stood beside me—immediately drove her elbow into my side.

“Guh…!! What was that for, Moe…?”

She had been so cheerful she practically skipped all the way here, but now her expression was as cloudy as high humidity.

“Onii-chan is the one at fault for imagining something dirty.”

At Moe’s thorny words, Nazuna suddenly flushed bright red in surprise.

“Ehh…!?”

“I—I wasn’t…! Nazuna, I swear I wasn’t thinking anything like that…!”

But from the way Nazuna pressed both hands to her cheeks and shrank back, it didn’t seem like my denial reached her at all.

“This outfit…It’s embarrassing to wear this, but if this outfit can make Kazuto-kun happy, then I’m glad I worked up the courage to wear it…”

As I watched Nazuna, blushing and shy, an indescribable emotion washed over me. Then, in exactly the same spot as before, another elbow strike shot into my side with a clean hit. If anything, it seemed stronger this time.

“M-My ribs… My ribs are gone… They’re definitely gone…”

“Why don’t you have Nazuna-senpai nurse you back to health?”

“I said I’m sorry…”

“Hmph… Ah, there’s Kirari~!”

Moe turned away sharply, spotted Kirari inside the café, and ran toward her. We ended up sharing a table with Kirari, who had been occupying a four-seater all by herself.

“Kirari, you… You’re a really troublesome customer, you know?”

“Eh, but they said sharing tables is fine, and the boys thanked me earlier ‘cause they were happy to sit with me. I mean, I am super cute.”

She threw up a peace sign beside her eye with a cheerful “Yay!”

“I-I see…”

Her overly high self-evaluation sounded like she took it for granted, but since she wasn’t exactly wrong, it was hard to hate her for it. After ordering coffee, I left the classroom to go to the bathroom. The moment I stepped out after finishing, someone suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled hard.

“Eh…?”

The person who tried to drag me off in the complete opposite direction from where I was supposed to return was—Hiyori Konno.

“H-Hey, Konno-san, where are we going?”

Konno-san walked briskly ahead of me and spoke with her back.

“Kurosaki-kun, you lied to me before, didn’t you?”

“Co-Could it be… About the ninja costume…?”

“Yes.”

“And what does that have to do with this!?”

“I found a place where you can take cosplay photos and they had a ninja outfit. But when I asked, they said it has to be a couple…So take photos with me.”

“Ah, I get it… A couple’s photo… Wait, but they’ll think you and I are dating—are you okay with that!?”

“For the sake of ninja… It can’t be helped…”

Her obsession with ninja… I never knew it ran this deep…

“B-But I’m leaving Moe and Kirari waiting…”

“It’ll be quick…”

“Well… If it’s quick, then…”

The mock-up “Cosplay Photo Studio” sign was displayed over a booth where many couples were already lined up. When we joined the end of the line, the sign there said the wait time was 30 minutes. Thirty minutes… That was right at the borderline of what could be excused with a “my stomach hurt” excuse.

“I had no idea this school had so many couples…”

As expected of a romcom manga world. Maybe the high schoolers in this world were much more advanced in one way or another than I realized…

“Kurosaki-kun, call me by my name so we won’t get caught as a fake couple, okay?”

“R-Roger…”

About twenty minutes later, when the line moved forward, Konno-san tugged at my sleeve.

“Hey, Kazuto, what costume are you going to wear?”

Hearing her suddenly call my first name caught me off guard.

“Uh, w-well, I’ll match with you, Hiyori…”

“Hmph… Thanks…”

Konno-san turned her face away, looking slightly bashful. After checking in, we were guided to a simple changing area separated by curtains. Once we finished changing, we met again while heading toward the photo area. I wore a standard black ninja outfit. Konno-san wore a kunoichi costume based on black, decorated with purple embroidery. A completely honest impression slipped out of my mouth upon seeing her.

“You look insanely good…”

“R-Really…? I’m glad…”

She pressed a hand to her lips and savored her happiness.

“You seriously look like a real ninja!”

“Kuro… Kazuto, you look good too…”

The shoot started off smoothly. But trouble came quickly.

“Alright, now could the boyfriend hug his girlfriend from behind?”

A pose request came flying from the photographer. Konno-san and I exchanged a shocked look. No—why hadn’t we even considered this possibility…? Thinking this was bad, I was about to ask the photographer to change the pose when Konno-san spoke.

“I don’t mind…?”

Eh… She doesn’t mind…?

“R-Really…?”

“If we act suspicious and they won’t give us the photos, that would be awful… Hurry…”

“O-Okay…”

It was my first back hug in my life, and my expression completely tensed up. I was grateful the costume covered half my face. Konno-san’s slender body was soft and warm. I wondered what kind of face she was making, but with her hair in the way, I couldn’t see her from here. When the photographer gave the OK and we separated, an even greater trial arrived.

“Alright, next the girlfriend will give the boyfriend a kiss on the cheek! Ah, on the lips is fine too~!”

Yikes. This is seriously way too much.

“What do we do, Konno-san? If we apologize now, maybe they’ll let us off…!”

I whispered, but what came back was an unexpected suggestion.

“I don’t mind… Unless Kurosaki-kun hates it…?”

“Eh…?”

“Of course, it’s not a kiss on the lips… Just the cheek…”

From the blush spreading across her cheeks, it didn’t seem like she was joking.

“If Konno-san is okay with it, then… I’ll leave it to you…”

“Then… Face forward…”

My heart, powered up to a hundred thousand horsepower, pounded with wild intensity. As Konno-san’s face slowly drew closer, all sound stopped as if it was stopped by magic and for a moment, I felt like my heart had completely stopped.

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